Three-dimensional game

ABSTRACT

A base means has a plurality of spaced support members extending upwardly therefrom. Each of these support members includes a plurality of shoulders extending therearound. A plurality of tubular playing pieces are provided which are adapted to fit within one another and to fit over the support members to be supported on said shoulders at different vertical levels so that a plurality of playing pieces of one player may be aligned in lines extending horizontally, vertically or diagonally through the playing pieces when supported in playing position relative to said support members.

United States Patent Inventor Lester C. Brinser 1730 Briggs Chaney Road,Silver Spring, Md. 20904 Appl. No. 729,202

Filed May 15, 1968 Patented Feb. 9, 1971 THREE DIMENSIONAL GAME 6Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

[1.8. CI 273/130 A631 3/00 Field olSearch 273/130, 131, 134, 135,136,137, 153

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1936 Klemin 273/131 2,676,0184/1954 Cornish et al 273/130 2,896,950 7/1959 Rosti et al 273/131FOREIGN PATENTS 904,153 2/1954 Germany 273/137 Primary Examiner-DelbertB. Lowe Attorneys- Emory L. Groff and Emory L. Groff, Jr.

ABSTRACT: A base means has a plurality of spaced support membersextending upwardly therefrom. Each of these support members includes aplurality of shoulders extending therearound. A plurality of tubularplaying pieces are provided which are adapted to fit within one anotherand to fit over the support members to be supported on said shoulders atdifferent vertical levels so that a plurality of playing pieces of oneplayer may be aligned in lines extending horizontally, vertically ordiagonally through the playing pieces when supported in playing positionrelative to said support members.

PATENTEU FEB 9 mm) IN V EN TOR.

"Igll H LESTER C. BRINSER 1 Iii iiiim.

ATTORNEY I 1 THREE DIMENSIONAL GAME BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Thepresent invention relates to a three-dimensional game which is anoutgrowth of the well-known game of tic-tac-toe" wherein the objectiveis for one player to obtain alignment of three marks in a row. This gamehas for many years been played on a sheet of paper so that the alignmentcould be made only in a single plane.

In recent years, this game has been expanded into a threedimensionalarrangement wherein playing pieces are employed, and a particularplayers playing pieces can be aligned either in a single plane or in aplurality of planes thereby substantially increasing the complexity ofthe game and the number of ways in which points can be scored.

A number of three-dimensional tic-tac-toe games have been proposed, andin a typical arrangement a transparent plastic support is providedwherein playing pieces can be supported in any one of 27 playingpositions defined by a plurality of piece receiving portions arranged ina 3 x 3 x 3 cube array.

Complex frameworks of various construction have also been employed inthe prior art for supporting playing pieces in operative position. Theseframeworks are not only inordinantly expensive in many instances, but aplayer has difiiculty in seeing the position of all of the playingpieces, and furthermore the support means for the playing pieces are notreadily accessible in the central portion of the structure so that itrequires considerable manipulation to place a playing piece in playingposition.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an arrangementwhich is of greatly simplified construction and which provides very goodvisibility of the playing pieces since a minimum of obstruction ispresented and the playing area can be readily viewed from a positionthereabove.

A plurality of support members are disposed in fixed spaced relationshipto one another, and playing pieces of different size are adapted to bedropped onto these support members and supported at different verticallevels thereon whereby 27 operative positions for the playing pieces maybe readily provided using nine support members. It should of course beunderstood that a difi'erent number of support members and/or adifferent number of vertical support positions on the support membersmay be employed if so desired. For example, instead of using ninesupport members adapted to support playing pieces at three differentvertical levels, 16 support members could be employed each of which isadapted to support playing pieces at four different vertical levels. Itis evident that the concept of the present invention can be extended asdesired to include any number of support members and any number ofvertical levels at which it is desired to support the playing pieces.

The playing pieces of the present invention can be readily dropped intoplaying position from above any one of the support members regardless ofthe vertical level on which it is desired to support a playing piece,and accordingly placing of the playing pieces in playing position isgreatly facilitated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a top perspective viewillustrating the game of the present invention with playing piecesdisposed in operative position on certain ones of the support members ofthe apparatus;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the structure shown in FIG. 1 illustrating aplurality of playing pieces adjacent thereto; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 3-3 of FIG. 1looking in the direction of the arrows.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawingwherein like reference characters designate corresponding partsthroughout the several views, a base member is indicated generally byreference numeral 10 and may be formed of any suitable 7 material suchas wood, plastic and the like. This base member ship with respect to oneanother, the support members being disposed in three equally spaced rowsas is clearly evident from FIG. 1.

.Referring to FIG. 3, the construction of support member 28 is clearlyillustrated. This support member includes an uppermost portion 28' ofcylindrical configuration which joins with an intermediate cylindricalportion 28" of a greater diameter than that of portion 28'. Portion 28"in turn joins with a lowermost generally cylindrical portion 28" of adiameter greater than that of the intermediate portion 28".

An integral member 30 extends downwardly from the undersurface of thesupport member and is tightly fitted within a complementary hole formedin the base member 10 whereby the support member is mounted in theoperative position illustrated. If desired, a suitable adhesivesubstance may be employed for securing the support member in operativeposition.

A first annular shoulder 34 is defined about the periphery of thesupport member 28 between the cylindrical portions 28 and 28" thereof. Asecond annular shoulder 36 is defined about the periphery of the supportmember 28 between the cylindrical portions 28" and 28"" thereof.

Each of the support members is of substantially identical construction.Accordingly, the three portions of different diameter of each of therespective support members have been given the same reference numeralsas the respective support member primed, double primed and triple primedin the same manner as the reference numerals have been applied to thesupport member 28.

A plurality of playing pieces are provided, there being a firstplurality of playing pieces 40 of one size, a second plurality ofplaying pieces 42 of another size, and a third plurality of playingpieces 44 of still another size.

As seen most clearly in FIG. 3, each of the playing pieces 40, 42 and 44is of hollow cylindrical configuration. The playing piece 40 has a boreformed therethrough which is adapted to slidably receive the uppermostportion 28' of support member 28, whereby playing piece 40 is adapted tobe supported on the annular shoulder 34 with the outer periphery ofplaying piece 40 being substantially flush with the outer periphery ofthe intermediate portion 28" of the support member.

Playing piece 42 has a bore formed therethrough which is adapted toslidably receive the intermediate portion 28" of the support member 28,the playing piece 42 being supported by the annular shoulder 36 of thesupport member with the outer periphery of playing piece 42substantially flush with the outer periphery of the portion 28" of thesupport member.

The bore formed through playing piece 42 has an inner diameter slightlylarger than the outer diameter of playing piece 40 so that playing piece42 is adapted to be dropped into the operative position illustrated inFIG. 3 when playing piece 40 is supported in the playing positionillustrated.

Playing piece 44 has a bore formed therethrough which is adapted toslidably receive the lowermost portion 28' of the support member 28,this playing piece being supported on the upwardly facing surface of thebase member 10.

The inner diameter of the bore formed through playing piece 44 isslightly greater than the outer diameter of playing piece 42 so thatplaying piece 44 is adapted to be dropped into the operative positionshown in FIG. 3 when playing piece 42 is supported in the playingposition illustrated.

The playing pieces as well as the support members may be formed of anysuitable substance such as wood, plastic and the like.

in FIG. 1, a plurality of playing pieces are illustrated in operativeplaying position on certain ones of the support members in order toillustrate the manner in which points may be scored by players playingthe game.

A first player's playing pieces indicated as being blue in color forpurposes of identification include three playing I pieces 40 supportedabout the uppermost portions of support members 24, 26 and 28. Thesethree playing pieces 40 which are colored blue are accordingly alignedin an upper horizontal plane, and a point is scored for such alignment.

Additionally, playing pieces 42 and 44 which are also colored blue aresupported about the intermediate and lowermost portions of supportmember 28. A point is also scored for this alignment since the threeplaying pieces supported by suppott member 28 are aligned in the samevertical plane.

A second players playing pieces are indicated as being red in color, andthree of such playing pieces 42 are disposed about the intermediateportions of support members 14, 20 and 26. A point is scored in thisinstance for the latter player since the three playing pieces 42 arealigned in an intermediate horizontal plane below the upper horizontalplane. it should be understood that a player's pieces can also bealigned in a lower horizontal plane wherein the pieces would be disposedabout the lowermost portions of the associated support members.

Additionally, a playing piece 44 indicated as being red in color issupported about the lowermost portion of support member 24, and aplaying piece 40 which is also colored red is supported about theuppermost part of support member 16. A point is also scored for thisarrangement since the playing piece 40 on support member 16, the playingpiece 42 on support member 20 and the playing piece 44 on support member24 are aligned with one another in a diagonal plane.

It is evident that playing pieces may be aligned so as to score pointsin a plurality of horizontal, vertical and diagonal planes, and thatalignment of three of a player's pieces in a row may be blocked by aplaying piece of the other player in the usual manner associated withtic-tac-toe" games and the like.

Due to the interrelationship of the inner and outer diameters of thevarious playing pieces as well as the sizes of the various portions ofthe support members, a larger playing piece is adapted to be moved intoplaying position relative to a particular support means below a smallerplaying piece when such smaller playing piece is supported at a certainvertical level on any particular support means.

The playing pieces are tubular in construction and as shown are ofgenerally circular cross-sectional configuration. It should beunderstood that the playing pieces may be of other cross-sectionalconfigurations such as triangular, square or the like as long as themembers are adapted to fit within one another for the purposehereinbefore described.

The playing pieces of either player may be identified in any suitablemanner as by providing playing pieces of different color or texture asdesired.

As this invention may be embodied in several forms without departingfrom the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, the presentembodiment is therefore illustrative and not restrictive, and since thescope of the invention is defined by the appended claims, all changesthat fall within the metes and bounds of the claims or that form theirfunctional as well as conjointly cooperative equivalents are thereforeintended to be embraced by those claims.

lclaim:

1. A three-dimensional game apparatus comprising a plurality of spacedsupport means, means on the support means for supporting playing piecesat different vertical levels, a plurality of playing pieces each of adifferent inside and outside diameter and each of which is adaptedto fitover a portion of said support means, said playing pieces beingsubstantially complementary in shape to one another, the inside diameterof a arger playing piece being greater than the outside diamemeansdefines spaced support portions at difi'erent parts thereof constitutingsaid means at different vertical levels.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 2 wherein said spaced support portionscomprise shoulders extending peripherally about said support means.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said support meansdefines a plurality of generally cylindrical portions of differentdiameter, said support means each including annular shoulder meansconnecting adjacent cylindrical portions of the support means andconstituting said piece supporting means.

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said playing pieces includemeans for distinguishing the playing pieces of a plurality of players.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 including a base means formaintaining said support means in predetermined spaced parallelrelationship with one another, said support means being disposed in rowsand extending vertically upwardly from said base means, each of saidsupport means defining shoulder means extending peripherally therearoundand constituting said means for supporting playing pieces at differentvertical levels.

for supporting playing pieces

1. A three-dimensional game apparatus comprising a plurality of spaced support means, means on the support means for supporting playing pieces at different vertical levels, a plurality of playing pieces each of a different inside and outside diameter and each of which is adapted to fit over a portion of said support means, said playing pieces being substantially complementary in shape to one another, the inside diameter of a larger playing piece being greater than the outside diameter of a smaller playing piece to permit free vertical movement of the playing pieces with respect to one another when associated with the same support means, whereby a larger playing piece is adapted to be moved into playing position relative to a particular support means below a smaller playing piece when said smaller playing piece is supported at a certain vertical level on said particular support means.
 2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said support means defines spaced support portions at different parts thereof constituting said means for supporting playing pieces at different vertical levels.
 3. Apparatus as defined in claim 2 wherein said spaced support portions comprise shoulders extending peripherally about said support means.
 4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said support means defines a plurality of generally cylindrical portions of different diameter, said support means each including annular shoulder means connecting adjacent cylindrical portions of the support means and constituting said piece supporting means.
 5. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said playing pieces include means for distinguishing the playing pieces of a plurality of players.
 6. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 including a base means for maintaining said support means in predetermined spaced parallel relationship with one another, said support means being disposed in rows and extending vertically upwardly from said base means, each of said support means defining shoulder means extending peripherally therearound and constituting said means for supporting playing pieces at different vertical levels. 